Years ago a traveling circus would entice you to a ride through the Funhouse; you would get into a small car on rails and would be whisked though a door that would immediately immerse you in darkness, spooky sounds, and with pop-up, frightening images. Today’s amusement parks have their own, more sophisticated version of the Funhouse, but the purpose is still the same; to offer you the thrill of danger, fear, and disaster while promising safety at the end of the journey.
Life is a Funhouse of sorts with these real differences: we will experience hurt, the terrors will be real and we may become so overwhelmed with the ride that we lose faith that the journey can end in light and not darkness, in peace and not fear, in hope and not despair.
This I believe is the challenge of faith and the purpose of the assurances given in the Bible. God is with us in the car through this spook house of life. The car ride will be jarring and at times it will seem to be out of control but it will never spin off its tracks. His plan assures us of a light at the end of the tunnel of life. And whatever we fear during our ride will be laid to rest at the end.
So the message is this: choose to take God at His word, grip the car firmly with faith, and focus primarily on His plan for eternity with you, or live in constant, hopeless dread.
Seven Assurances From the Bible
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 14:24
The Lord Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
2 Samuel 22:29
You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.
Psalm 73:23
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Matthew 28:20
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
*A building or an attraction in an amusement park or a carnival that features various devices intended to surprise, frighten, bewilder, or amuse. (yourdictionary.com) Its purpose is to distort conventional perceptions and startle people with unstable and unpredictable physical circumstances.
